Electrical switching devices in which at least two parallel switching paths are allocated to a phase are known from the prior art. Carrying high rated currents in electrical switching devices requires low-resistance switching paths in order to satisfy temperature requirements, in particular to limit the heating of switching device components. The use of parallel switching paths can here reduce the total electrical resistance of the switching path arrangement.
If, however, one of the parallel switching paths is opened shortly before a current zero crossing, in particular a current zero crossing prior to a large half wave, a further flow of current occurs in this switching path as a result of an attempt to extinguish. If this switching path does not possess the necessary extinguishing capacity to switch off the current at the subsequent current zero crossing, failure to extinguish results. Each individual parallel switching path must therefore have a sufficiently large extinguishing capacity to handle such a situation.